This invention relates to a portable and hand-held device for data processing by means of an IC storage in the form of a card, and more particular to such device to be conveniently used e.g. by an owner of the IC storage card as a credit card, cash card, identification card and the like in order to confirm data stored therein e.g. by a salesman, a delivery worker and the like for his operation, namely temporarily writing dealing data in the IC card on the spot which is called the point of sales system.
The IC storage card, which has a plurality of contact points or conductive terminals exposed to be flush with the surface of one side thereof and electrically connected with a memory circuit and a central processing unit respectively embedded in the card made of plastics, has far more memory capacity and is safer against stored data tapping in comparison with the magnetic card so that such IC card is going to be widely used for a variety of purposes such as a cash card, credit card, identification card involving not only informations necessary for identifying the owner but also other informations such as his blood type, clinical histories etc.
In order to read stored data out of and write new data in such an IC card, the conductive terminals of the card as external memory must be electrically connected with concerned terminals of a computer.
For the purpose of convenient and reliable electrical connection for reading/writing, various devices called IC card reader/writer, which comprises at least a pocket for receiving and holding the IC card, a contact head having contact pins to be electrically engaged respectively with the contact points of the loaded card, and conductive terminals electrically connected respectively with the contact pins so as to be electrically connected with the computer, have been proposed (e.g. see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,087,680 and 4,602,351; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 747,148; UK Patent Application No. 2,124,420). Such devices are naturally mounted on a general computer of a large scale, an office computer of a small scale or a so-called personal computer of a further smaller scale, or located in the vicinity of such computer to be electrically connected as occasion demands.
Meanwhile, the owner of the IC card for instance as the credit card will often wish to confirm the information stored therein, such as a remainder of the credited sum and the past transactions, but for that purpose he must take the trouble to go to the concerned banking institution. Thus, it is desirable for the IC card owner to possess a compact device provided with a display of e.g. liquid crystal or light emission diode type, a key board of ten keys and some additional keys for inputting identification numbers so as to allow the stored data to appear on said display and a microprocessor in addition to said IC card reader/writer.
It is desirable also for a salesman, delivery worker of the wholesaler and the like to possess such compact and hand-held device in order to write a kind, quantity, unit cost etc. of the delivered or sold articles and a sum in the IC card to be temporally stored and later read by or stored in the computer in his office to be variously processed.